


The Incident Of The Disappearing Gods

by anamnesisapproaches



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Angst, Gen, Mentioned Characters, Mild Fluff, More angst, Mystery, fairies are cute yknow, i guess, im bad at tagging, only on occasion, swears, tagging as we go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:40:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23763253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anamnesisapproaches/pseuds/anamnesisapproaches
Summary: Recently, Gods in Gensokyo have gone missing, kidnapped and kept hostage.  The maker of the havoc is unknown, but suspicions begin to arise about a few different possibilities.  Perhaps the culprit was someone nobody would suspect.Join Reimu, Marisa, and co. on a journey to solve this mysterious incident.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	1. Stolen Away

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is based on a dream I had a while ago with a very similar storyline. It is altered in some ways to better fit the lore of Touhou, but is mostly from that strange fever dream I had while drunk on a fever of 103 degrees.
> 
> So, have fun with it! It'll update Semi-regularly, and I will be finishing it.

It was a relatively peaceful day in Gensokyo, lukewarm temperature wise, and many a fairy was out playing. Romping about with the smaller beings, Marisa played along with them all, letting them even ride on her broom. Sunny Milk, keeping the harsh sun from burning anyone’s skin, gladly took a turn, having a tough time keeping herself up.

“Ya gotta balance, Sunny! Just-” Marisa picked her up after she fell onto the ground, and placed her back on top of the floating broom. “There ya go. Try to balance on top of it, and wrap your legs around th’ broom.” 

“Arright…” Sunny murmured, blushing from the embarrassment of falling a few times. Luna Child and Star Sapphire giggled a little, but Cirno cheered Sunny on to try again, though likely to hurry up so she could try. Some of the lesser fairies hid their blunt smiles with the wings and hands, though a few tried hiding in Marisa’s hair and hat.

After a few attempts, she managed to get a firm hold of the basics of staying on the broom. Marisa brought her on a little trip around the forest once or twice before letting another fairy or two have a go at it. After enough time, Marisa noticed the sky beginning to turn gold with the setting of the sun. Being surrounded by little fairies and playing all day had been quite fun, but after a moment, the little witch forgot her whole purpose of not going to harass Rinnosuke for curiosities that day. She had been called over by Reimu to discuss something important, apparently. 

“Ah, shoot! Guys, I gotta go!” Marisa chirped, turning to the main fairies. In the corner of her eye she swore she saw stars and stripes, but that wasn’t important at the moment. “Reimu called me out, and I gotta meet up with her or else she’ll get mad.”

“Oh, you probably should go.” Luna Child tilted her head and furrowed her brows. “Reimu can get mad, and we would prefer if she wasn’t… Because. Yknow.” She grimaced, twirling one of the curls in her honey blonde hair.

As Marisa mounted her broom, all the fairies of lesser and greater kinds were waving goodbye, Marisa leaving them with haste to meet up with Reimu, who was waiting patiently by the step with some hot tea. Next to her was a pink-haired horned hermit, although where her horns should be were tightly bound into a padded bun-like hair accessory, what she could only assume was to hide their existence and better fit in with human cultures.

“Kasen! Reimu! How are y’ two?”

“Quite well, Marisa. Had fun with the Fairies?” Kasen smiled sweetly, her beloved Eagle Kume perched up on a tree, having likely been the one to fly Kasen to the shrine after being summoned. “They looked like they were having fun.” 

“I- Yeah, they were… Cirno has quite the fiery personality for an ice fairy, haha.” Marisa hooked one of her feet behind her ankle, expecting Reimu to be mad at her. Surprisingly, she wasn’t angry at all, but almost looked sedated. Confused, Marisa pointed to Reimu while looking questioningly at Kasen, as if asking what was up. It took a moment or two for Kasen to put two and two together before laughing. 

“Oh, you mean Reimu.” 

“Mmm…? What about me?” the person in question looked directly at Marisa, then to the person drinking tea beside her. 

“You just look kinda stressed. Yknow?”

“Kinda…”

“Yeah, she didn’t have a very good sleep yesterday, and she is drinking her extra relaxing tea. So she is a bit spaced out.” Kasen explained calmly, making sure to not make it sound bad. However Reimu looked quite a bit tired, her eyes red from exhaustion, and her face was twitching at the slightest of breezes. Marisa grimaced, settling herself down next to the small shrine maiden, who was quick to lean into her warmth. Wrapping an arm around Reimu’s slim shoulder, she rubbed her a little bit in an attempt to calm her a little.

“So… Why didn’t ya sleep well? You worried about something? Normally you’re never worried.” Marisa murmured, trying not to give Reimu a headache in case the stress apparent in her body language was already on the verge of giving her one. “Or did someone burn another shrine?”

“No. Kasen, you already heard, but…” Reimu hesitated for a moment. “Apparently there is someone who has been kidnapping Gods and stealing their energy.”

“What?? But who would do that? Messin’ with Gods is dangerous…” Marisa raised both her eyebrows in shock, beautiful golden eyes widening in shock. Reimu shrugged, looking off to the side. 

“We just don’t know right now.” Kasen took over for Reimu, patting her shoulder a few times. “We were wondering the same thing. How was someone kidnapping all these Gods, and why? Some of them are still missing, but a few have been found. And when they’re found, they arent in good condition. Nobody really knew about these kidnappings until Shizuha came running to Eirin Yagokoro begging for help. Apparently Minoriko had been captured and drained of almost all her energy. Reportedly, she also had strange burn marks on her temples and some focal points of her ‘magic’ and joints.” Kasen stopped explaining to allow for Marisa to let this soak in. “But, we don’t really know how this happened.”

“Surely we can track who this person is. Maybe… Maybe someone we already know about is messing with these Gods???” Marisa attempted to think about someone who might possibly want to harm these people, but she didn’t know who would. It seemed odd, and it surely was an enigma. 

Her train of thought was abruptly halted as Reimu spoke up, pitching into the conversation.

“Apparently Hina Kagiyama has been missing for days, and Minoriko, when found, was collapsed at the shore of a river, on the verge of death. Some other minor Gods were attacked, and I thought it was just a coincidence for a while… But…”

“But…?” Marisa widened her eyes curiously.

“Then Suwako was taken.”

“Suwako was WHAT?”

Reimu nodded solemnly, keeping her head a little low.

“Kanako came to me, shrieking. She wanted me to find Suwako. Usually she keeps such a strict eye on both Suwako and Sanae, I can only imagine how horrifying it is when Suwako gets snatched once her guard is down for one moment.” 

“I am certain Sanae is terrified beyond all points of reason right now.” Kasen rubbed her eyes frustratedly, the entire situation making the gear in her head turn. “Since Kanako went to you for help, I can only imagine how desperate Sanae is.”

“Definitely. I can feel it…” The shrine maiden sighed. As if she didn’t have enough to worry about already, now she was concerned about the green-toned shrine maiden of the mountain Gods.

“You can feel what she is feeling?” Marisa tilted her head curiously, only for Reimu to shake hers in denial. 

“Not literally, no. But I can sense that she is stressed. Just a gut feeling. Instinct.” the red Shrine Maiden clarified, pushing herself up to stretch away her stiffness from twisting in awkward positions to lean on Marisa, who gave a small ‘ah’ of understanding, watching her reach up to the sky in an almost prayer-like stretch. “Yknow?”

The two others who were currently present did not really comment on that, just agreeing with Reimu to the best of their ability, knowing she was better at generally knowing things instinctually. However the silence seemed to get on everyone’s nerves, leading for them all to simply continue the main topic.

“Well,” Reimu lightened her tone as she took a long sip of her relaxing tea. “I guess it’s a good thing that Eirin is so strong. She can keep herself safe and treat the hurt Gods.” All three of them nodded in agreement, though Kasen did bring up a problem with that.

“See, you have to find the Gods first… Minoriko being found is surely a coincidence, as Hina still isn’t known to be alive or not.” 

Reimu groaned at that realization.

“I mean, even Alice says she is worried.” Kasen admitted. “Apparently someone she thinks she knows might be in danger. What was her name… Shina… Shi… Shin… Shin...?”

“Well, that doesn't matter right now, now does it?” Marisa interrupted, not having the patience for minutia right now. “As much as Alice’s friend being missing may worry me, but we need to look at the big picture.” It was obvious Alice having possibly lost a friend was on Marisa’s mind, but she refused to just let this take them over. They all needed to stay calm and think things through, fully and properly.

“Ugh... Fr’ now, though, you should get some rest, Reimu. You need sleep, and I should get home. Surely we can talk about this later, but we all need to calm down. We can’t jus’ tackle an incident while freakin’ out, y’know?”

“Yes, she is right. You should get some rest, and everyone can sleep on it. We can start investigating tomorrow, maybe?”

“Maybe… I was thinkin’ about going over to Kourin’s place tomorrow.” Marisa hopped onto her broom, Kasen motioning to help Reimu to bed before anything else. “Hey, Reimu! You know, Maybe you could join me to hang out with him! He does make the best rice, after all.”

“Mmm. That does sound kinda nice.” Reimu trailed off a little in thought. “Sure. What time?”

“As early as you can. He’ll be up anyways, because I’ll be there to wake him up!”

“Alrighty.”

Waving goodbye to Reimu just like she had with the Fairies before, Marisa rocketed away back to her place on her trusty broom, moving along with the night winds before it got any colder with the chill of winter taking it’s last gasps before spring moves into full force. Weaving between the trees, her fast-paced movements whisked her worries away, focusing solely on not hitting any trees. She passed by Kourindou, seeing it dark inside, Rinnosuke being fast asleep.

"Cya tomorrow, Kourin!" She said, speeding back under the light of the full moon.


	2. Drive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marisa and Reimu go off to visit Rinnosuke. But something suspicious is happening around him...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hah, okay, this one is decently longer than the last one, luckily. Hopefully the next update will come out quick, haha.
> 
> As always, if you wanna see more just,,, Click that Kudos button,,,, No pressure though.
> 
> Also, it seems that when I port from Google Docs, it looks like i write a lot, because this chapter is the average standard size of a novel chapter with the standard novel fontsize, but then I realise how strangely short it is??? Even though its a few thousands words??? I feel like I should make them longer...
> 
> But this is the best I can do, mm? Just writing the stress away.
> 
> You can read it now. Only if you want. You don't have to, though. Just have fun with it.

Marisa woke almost by nine, rubbing her face tiredly. Knowing that both Reimu and Rinnosuke usually slept until noon, she had plenty of time. However, Marisa was not one to waste the day without being productive. At least, what she called productive wasn’t what most would call productive in the first place. She got up, and pulled on a clean dress, tying her white apron around her nighon lazily. With a heave of her chest, she went to wash up her face and use whatever cloth was closest to her to dry off.

“Ah, there we go. All freshened up.” She spoke to herself, doing a few absurdly cheesy poses in front of an antique broken mirror. It had been given to her by Rinnosuke, and was already broken once he had obtained it, oddly enough. She put her mildly ragged hat on her head, completing the usual outfit she wore. “Maybe I’ll visit Alice after Kourin. She could probably use some company, too.”

Her thinking out loud was normal, as the little witch didn’t have any direct family to live with her. Rinnosuke functionally acted as her adoptive father, but it was still rather lonely at her place, leading her to be generally more welcoming to Youkai and Fairies than other humans, it seems. Though, nobody was seemingly willing to move in and just be roommates to chill out.

Lost in thought, Marisa was gathering random knick knacks to fly over to Kourin’s, in hopes of him possibly taking a look at them or improving their usage. Various items like magical orbs or cards she randomly found in piles or were given as gifts by some of her friends. She had no idea what they did, so in return for Rinnosuke identifying them, she would satisfy his curiosities with letting him learn about interesting things.

“Arright, Kourin. I’m coming.”

Taking to the air, Marisa swept across the lands like a wild fox in a forest at dusk chasing down it’s swift prey. Her eyes keenly dodged whatever stood in her way, leaving everything behind in a sharp gust of wind and laughter. Fairies would greet her as she passed, and Youkai would as well. Moving up into the higher parts of the forest, she grasped a bright red fruit, and bit into it while still flying at top speed.

“Kouuuuuriiiiiiiin!” She hollered, noticing that the large stained glass window to the side of the petite curio shop was wide open, and taking the opportunity with great vigor as she barreled into the shop, crashing into a pile of random things in the process.

“Whoops.”

She expected a groan or sigh of annoyance, yet none seemed to come. Rinnosuke must be cooking.

“Kourin, Sorry I couldn’t come yesterday. Reimu called me over and said it was urgent.”

Still, no words came.

Suspicious, she walked into where he cooked his rice. There was nobody there, and no fire was going. However the wood underneath the pot was burnt, but not fully, and seemed almost damp, which was odd. To add onto the oddity, it seemed that there was rice and water in the pot, but not boiled enough for the rice to have absorbed it all.

“Uh. Kourin? Ya in here?” She called out, brows furrowing confusedly. Trailing her vision away, her mind began to turn it’s somewhat rusty gears in thought. Perhaps, maybe, he was in the garden?

So, she walked out the back, and into the trailing garden that Rinnosuke grew most his food in. There were all sorts of medicinal herbs that Marisa knew he sold to Eirin for her usage, and there were plenty of odd fruits that Marisa couldn’t deny were most likely artificially bred at his own hand to have specifically what he wants or needs. There were things from edible ferns to strange fruits that Marisa knew better than to nibble on. In the nature of spring, There were plenty of caterpillars that munched on the leaves of his garden, and countless clumps of weeds he hadn’t bothered to pull out just yet. It was an impressive garden, to say the very least, and he obviously had far too much time on his hands. Though, one couldn’t entirely blame the man for having too much time. It was the way of his life, after all.

However she still did not find Rinnosuke, and was beginning to worry.

“Find him yet?” Spoke a familiar voice from behind. Wheeling around, Marisa went with her reflexes, pulling out her Mini-Hakkero to blast whoever was there if she deemed a threat. However, the person who had arrived was the one she invited, Reimu holding her hands up defensively.

“Oh, man, it’s just you, Reimu…” Marisa sighed in relief, a drop of sweat trickling down over her temple. “Ya scared me, you know…”

“I scared you? You’re just on your nerves” The Shrine Maiden of paradise shot back, her eyes keen. “But I am curious, you HAVE found him, right?”

“No. I was thinkin’ he was maybe out, but I don’t think he’d leave his food unattended and uncooked.” Marisa grimaced, looking at the pristine, perfectly swept ground. Even his garden had clean stones. “I think he was here yesterday, though. I feel like he was just sleeping once I was traveling home.”

“Hm.”

Reimu poked at some plants with her Gohei, scrutinizing their very existence. She waved her hand for Marisa to follow, moving back inside Kourindou. Now that they both took their time with it, the place was a mess more than normal. Rinnosuke had a habit of keeping things clean in a chaotic way, everything having its place in a strange maze of items that only he understood, if anyone. This was not orderly chaos, but outright chaos.

“Was it this messy when you got here?” Reimu jabbed at Marisa’s chest a few times almost playfully, Marisa letting out a suppressed giggle at the little tickle from her Gohei. “Or did you crash up the place?”

“I think i crashed it up, but I dunno. The window was open so I went in that way.”

“And…”

“And I ended up headbutting into the shelf.”

“You make no sense sometimes, you know that?” Reimu asked a question that they both knew didn’t need to be answered, though partially because Marisa seemed to be a little bit distracted. Her mind wandered around, but never came full circle. The witch looked up, and around, glancing to the side before trailing her eyes up to Reimu, whose lips were pursed in deep thought. Something was on her mind that didn’t seem to be necessarily obvious.

“...Reimu?”

“...Mmm?”

“What… What’s up?”

“...”

“...Reimu, tell me.”

The two stared at each other, neither daring to speak a word before the other. Reimu fiddled with the strings of her rod, feeling the silken smooth texture up and down as an almost meditative act. She opened her thin lips to speak, but little words came out. Without further notice, she grasped Marisa’s hand, and dragged her out of Kourindou.

“Let’s… Go investigate the kidnappings.” She spoke darkly. “We don’t have time for this.”

Not questioning things, Marisa hopped up on her broom, albeit reluctantly. In order to keep up with the pacing of the golden-blonde one, Reimu grabbed onto Marisa’s broom, riding right behind her on it. Neither minded this action, even being considered mandatory in some situations as Marisa is vastly faster than Reimu is. 

“There is a river that comes from the Ravine. Go there, that is where Minoriko was found by her sister.”

Without further need for notice, Marisa flew into the air, flying just above the canopy. Reimu’s hair ruffled up from the howling wind, her bow flowing behind her hair. Marisa whistled a little tune, beginning to do a few airborne tricks. Reimu shrieked as she dipped down blindly into the canopy, then back up out of the danger of being hit by branches, over and over.

“M-Marisa!!! S-Stop, you’re gonna break one of our bones doing this!” Reimu was, to say the least, much more cautious than Marisa ever will be.

“Aww, C’mon, Reimu! It’s just a little fun to keep us up, yknow?”

“I’m gonna… I’m gonna smack you when we get ba-” She stopped mid sentence, shrieking again as Marisa dipped down. This time, Reimu shuffled up the broom’s handle, and tightly wrapped her frigid arms around Marisa’s abdomen for safety. At the sudden cold contact, Marisa flinched, heading straight towards a tree. Her actions moving faster than her own mind, she turned her broom to dodge the large tree. A good attempt, but to no avail, as her and Reimu’s sides hit against the massive trunk, causing them both to plummet very luckily into the very river they were looking for in the first place.

With a great splash, the two were soaked, Marisa rubbing her bruised side nervously as she stood up in a decently shallow area of the river. She whirled around, searching for her broom, which was washed up on the shore. She sighed with relief, and then turned to Reimu, who was scrambling onto the shore, her body language almost like that of a wet cat. An angry, yet disappointed, wet cat.

“I told you.” She grumbled, wringing out her dress and hair to the best of her ability. Luckily it was a warm day, only cold once you begin to fly higher up than the trees. However it still did not take out that now they were both drenched with cold river water.

“Hey, the only reason I crashed it because ya grabbed me. If things were normal, we’d have not crashed into th’ tree.”

“I wouldn’t have grabbed onto you if you weren’t reckless, you know.”

“Okay, you DO make a point there, but it’s fun!” She waved her hands around just a little to emphasize her words, while Reimu was just blunt.

“Fun to you, but now we’re wet.”

“Listen, maybe the culprit of these kidnappings likes water, and we can attract ‘em with it!”

“That’s ridiculous, and you know…” 

Reimu didn’t continue her sentence or her argument, looking off into the distance, far further upstream from where they were. Marisa had been ready to spit out a counter argument, but all thoughts left her mind as she looked where Reimu was looking.

“Whatcha starin’ at?”

Reimu did not say what it was, and simply ran off towards it. In shock, Marisa followed suit, keeping up with the smaller girl with ease. As they got closer to the thing, it was noticeable that they were very small, and wore deep violet and white clothing. 

Pausing for a moment, Marisa heard something crack underneath her feet. Halting for just a moment, she blinked at the item she crushed. Small, rectangular glasses were now shattered on the ground. The item was familiar, as only two people Marisa knew wore glasses. Rinnosuke and Patchouli. Panic began to rise up in her throat. Surely he wasn’t kidnapped either, right?

Her train of thought was broken when Reimu called for her, so she grabbed the glasses, and stuffed them in her pocket before catching up with Reimu.

After a little bit of running, Reimu had realized that the person knocked out on the ground was a tiny God of frogs, Suwako Moriya. In a fire of great worry, Marisa sprinted up to the little God’s side, checking over her body to see if there was any damage. Just like Minoriko, there were burn marks on her temples, joints, and other places, and she was having trouble breathing. 

“R-Reimu… Is this...?” Marisa whispered, holding Suwako close, trying to protect her from any further harm. “She… Oh, the poor little thing…” 

Suwako shivered weakly, not even really having the energy to move herself. She sunk into Marisa’s hold, keeping very close to whatever warmth she could seek out. Reimu went up to Suwako’s side, and placed a hand on her head. She could feel a fever, the small being almost completely devoid of her usually vibrant spiritual energy. Just like the previous God, she, too, had been drained, and was left to die.

“Suwako…”

No reply.

“Can you hear us?”

“Mm… Mmn…” Suwako made a croaking noise in her throat, her eyes not opening more than a small bit. When her eyes saw red, she attempted to smile before falling limp and expressionless again. “Ka...na… Kana…”

Marisa’s heart ached to see such an innocent little being get so hurt. So manipulated and used, then thrown out like garbage. It was awful to her. Surely it was for Reimu as well, but she was too busy thinking about things to physically show it.

“You want Kanako…” Reimu murmured, her brows furrowing. “Okay, we’ll get you to Kanako… Just. Hang in there.” She gently pat her head, then offered to take her from Marisa. She got up, and cradled the small God like she was a baby. “Marisa.”

“Y-Yeah?” She was in tears, though partially from Suwako being in pain, but also from a whole set of other things she didn’t want to mention just yet. She looked sick, almost. Ready to throw up, even.

“...You look horrible. Are you alright?” Reimu asked beforehand, making sure she could handle not only the stress of her adoptive father gone missing, but also managing this incident.

“Mhm. I’m okay…” She said, her voice wavering like a glass of water in an earthquake. She obviously was not fine, but more pressing matters were present. Reimu would know to check up on her afterwards.

“Please, go get Kanako and Sanae. Tell them I’m bringing Suwako to Eirin, we CANNOT waste time.”

Marisa didn’t have to be told twice, taking off almost as quickly as Reimu did. 

Taking to the skies for the millionth time that day, Reimu flew towards the Great Bamboo Forest of the Lost, summoning her Danmaku to clear the way. There were various things that attempted to duel with her, but she managed to fend them off, keeping Suwako guarded from any bullets that dared get near. It was odd having someone else taking up space when she could normally dodge things with ease, slipping between bullets as if it was second nature. However with Suwako there, it slowed her down and made her more vulnerable.

Nonetheless, she made her way across the lands with great vigor and ease, keeping herself going at a decently fast pace.

“Damn it! Can’t you see I’m in a hurry?” Reimu snapped at a few people who attempted to fight her for one reason or another, blasting anyone who was too troublesome away to the best of her abilities. There was something wrong with her reflexes, as she kept getting hit by random bullets, which was a problem. 

But as she flew, she realized that not only her reaction times were slower than normal, but something was incredibly wrong with her Danmaku. 

The Yin-Yang Orbs which she utilised as her main weapon were acting oddly. They seemed to not hit as hard, and occasionally stopped spraying out their bullets. Reimu herself could summon Danmaku, but without the Yin-Yang Orbs helping her, it made things much more difficult than she would have liked.

However, despite it all, she managed to land somewhat quickly at Eientei’s steps. The ground was littered with dried bamboo leaves and evidence of recent movement, from the way things looked. A little rabbit in pink clothes emerged from the forest, her white fuzzy ears flopped over her eyes, as did her hair. With a gasp at the sight of Suwako, she ran off, yelling out into the halls of Eientei.

“Reisen! Lady Yagokoro!!”


	3. Eientei

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suwako tells of what she experienced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there are any inconsistencies, my eyes have failed me again.

Kanako barrelled into Eientei, seething with rage. Sanae was flying close behind her, along with Marisa. Sanae was in tears, having to blink away the water in her eyes before being able to see anything. Knowing very well she was scaring every rabbit in the general area, Kanko demanded to know exactly where Suwako was, not exactly trusting Eirin with her after the backhanded comment suggesting the moon God was interested in dissecting her all that time ago.

“Y-Yes, she is in the r-right room-” A rabbit spoke up, quivering underneath the enraged God’s shadow. Leaving the small creature alone, Kanako briskly went to scour the rooms to the right. She skipped over the smaller doors, and went straight for the larger one. When her strong arms slammed the doors open, the two people inside flinched. Eirin and Kaguya were talking calmly up until that moment. Eirin was shocked at the sudden presence of Kanako, and Kaguya was as calm as ever, smiling at her.

“Oh… You must be the Kanako which Eirin was talking about…” Her voice was like that of the heavens, as soothing as an aria of the wind itself. “Yes, you are, aren’t you…” She pushed herself up, the immortal girl’s robes gleaming with the rich appearance of silk and gold.

“...Where is Suwako.” She had one goal, and that was to get the opposing God of the Moriya Shrine, then return back home. However the sweet little princess was making things take longer than they should have.

“Mhmhmhm!” Her light voice laughed like the wings of a butterfly. “Welcome to Eientei… I will bring you to your friend, if that is what you wish.”

“I… Yeah.” 

Kanako was confused by this whole ordeal. Kaguya surely was relatively weird in nature, having this strange soothing aura. She watched as Kaguya fiddled with a branch-like item with various precious jewels upon it’s tips, beckoning her to follow. 

“Eirin, come. A visitor has come for your patient, can’t you see?”

“Yes, Kaguya…”

Kaguya led the way, Eirin following behind. They walked at a decently brisk pace, Kanako following them closely behind. A few rabbits still fled from the scene to not have to be in the presence of Kanako after such a first impression. Kaguya skipped a few times, Eirin keeping a close eye on her to make sure she didn’t trip. They came up to a door, Eirin tapping Kaguya’s shoulder to tell her that Suwako was in that room. Turning on her heels, she opened the door, going inside the room with Eirin, who held open the door, letting Kanako slip in, before closing it for whatever reason, despite the only things in Eientei being a few rabbits. Having followed relatively close behind, Sanae and Marisa also slipped into the room, having snuck in behind Kanako.

“There she is.” Kaguya pointed over to one of the beds in the room. The sheets and pillows were all stark white, almost blindingly so. Kanako took very timid steps to approach Suwako, whereas Sanae ran forwards with vigor, going right up to her. The little God was weak, but seemed to barely hold consciousness. 

“Ka...nako…” 

Marisa stayed to the sides a bit, straying just a few feet away from the Moriya Shrine Maiden and Gods. She wanted to hear what they were all saying, needing info for proper investigation. 

“Yes, Yes… We are here, Suwako. We’ve got you…” Sanae reassured her, gently trying to soothe Suwako while keeping her awake. “I was so worried once you had gone missing…” Kanako had gone nearly silent from all this, just keeping a very strict eye on the two, making sure nothing at all bad happened to either of them. 

“Thank… You…” 

Reimu came in after a hot moment, having left Suwako’s side to grab some Mochi to calm her nerves. Knowing what they all had to do next, Marisa butted in while Reimu munched on her food, sweetly handing a small piece to Marisa.

“I’m… A bit sorry to interrupt, but… Suwako, I need to ask you a few things about what you remember.” After the remark, she was given a slight glare by both Sanae and Kanako, Suwako being still visibly weak after only a few moments of rest since being awoken moments ago. Nonetheless, the frog-like God looked directly at Marisa and Reimu with dull, vacant eyes.

Weakly, the God spoke.

“I… Can… Try to… Tell…” She breathed, needing to take a deep breath or two after speaking but a few words.

“Take your time. We can’t have ya using all your strength, a’ight?” 

“Yes…”

And so, the God began her story.

“I was… By the shore… Near the… Genbu Ravine…” At first, she had trouble speaking, but with time, she began to strengthen just a little, though needing to take stronger breaths to compensate. “I was just… Wandering around, thinking… But then, I saw someone… With light hair, and blue clothing… They… They didn’t have much… Power… They went and fired a net at me… And then dragged me… Into a cave…”

“A cave…? Where…? What did they do…?” Reimu was intrigued, still munching on her Mochi despite this distracting remark.

“It… Was deep in the Ravine… They dragged me away, and brought me to… This thing…” Suwako took in another weak gasp of air, desperate as ever. Sanae fretted, Kanako placing a hand on her shoulder in hopes of relaxing the green-haired Shrine Maiden.

“Please, just tell us a little more.. Is there any other info about this person that you can remember…”

Reimu turned to Marisa, watching her slowly become more and more pale as time went on. Reimu thought that she was overthinking about something, though she couldn't put her finger on Marisa’s thought process exactly. Nobody could, after all.

“No… They just brought me to the machine…. And then knocked me out… Their voice was… Loud, and scary…” Suwako weakly coughed, her eyes shaking worriedly. She looked absolutely terrified. “I… They were so good with… Machines… They knew e-exactly what they were… Doing…”

“Okay, okay… Suwako, y’ can rest, now…” Marisa cooed, feeling empathy for the quaking God, knowing better than to overexert someone who was in pain. Swiveling around, Reimu obviously wanted more info, but for now, the little frog God needed to sleep, not stress.

“Oh, oh, Marisa…” Sanae whimpered. “Will she ever recover…? Please, please tell me she will.” Sanae was in tears, hating to see her enshrined God, or one of them for that matter, in such a weakened state. Marisa did not have much of an answer, simply giving her a gentle “I really don’t know” before grasping her broom tightly in her left non-dominant hand.

“Thank ya lots..! Suwako, you’ve been a great help...” Marisa took Reimu’s hand. “We needa continue searching, Reimu…”

Something was on her mind. Reimu could practically smell it on her.

Without any further words or glances, the little witch in the maid’s dress grabbed Reimu almost in desperation. With a hearty tug, she pulled the Shrine Maiden away from the bed, moving out of the room, and rushing down the hall. Reimu seemed visibly flustered, while Kanako, Suwako, and Sanae were left in nearly complete awe at the sudden leave.

“Okay, Reimu. We have a few more ideas now that we’ve talked t’ Suwako. We needa find someone who wears blue, has light hair, an’…” She trailed off, grimacing at something.

“Well, what comes to mind would be Alice… She has light hair, and wears blue, and her voice is scarily loud when she wants it to be… But we know it isn’t her, as Gods have gone missing while we had tea with her and Patchouli…”

“Yeah, it… Can’t be her. She’d have used her dolls, not just a net…” Marisa went silent, briskly walking out of Eientei with Reimu, her forehead dripping with sweat.

“Letty… Letty wouldn’t do all this. I’m not even sure she would even have the power or strategy to be able to pull off such a scheme. And it DEFINITELY isn’t Cirno..”

Mairsa laughed audibly, seeming to lighten up a little.

“Cirno could only dream o’ doing this kind of work. But why would she? Fairies don’t really seem t’ enjoy doing this type a’ thing. They all act more like little kids.” The blonde remarked sweetly, having a great fondness for Fairies. “Though, with their lack o’ academic knowledge, they know this world better than many o’ us.”

“Yeah, I guess…” Reimu murmured, keeping herself a little low, in hopes of coming up with something good.

“Though, could it be Merlin Prismriver…?” Marisa suggested, her attempt at contributing with possibilities not entirely doing too much. The Prismriver sisters would never, Marisa shook her head to dismiss the suggestion.

“That was dumb and you know it” Reimu playfully jabbed at her friend, who smiled ever so slightly, her eyes still showing some semblance of fear. What was that magician thinking…?

“Let’s maybe ask Kourin… He should be back from wherever he went to at this point.”

“Great idea, he usually gets weird and creepy people in his dumb shop of his, so he probably ran across them... Let’s go, then.” Reimu hopped off the ground and took to the skies once more, Marisa fumbling awkwardly for he broom to follow. Falling behind wasn’t too much of a problem for her, as she was vastly faster than Reimu, for better or for worse.

By now, the night was dark. It was a new moon, the light from the distant stars being miniscule at best. Chilling air nipped at the girl’s fingertips and noses. Though the air was still, the night was always vastly active, plenty of Youkai out and about, much more active than in the light of day. There was an instance where a few Youkai greeted Marisa and asked if she could play, only getting an apologetic wave as she kept up with the Hakurei Shrine Maiden in front of her.

Reimu had to shoot down a few Youkai that got in their way with her Danmaku. The movements were swift, and mostly harmless, tossing the Youkai in question off to the side. Reimu’s powers were acting oddly, however. They seemed… Haphazard. Weaker, even, as if their power was being sucked away. This was especially prevalent in her Danmaku and dodging abilities, but seemed to do little to faze her. At least not physically, though she seemed emotionally distraught by this change. Marisa took a mental note for later, hoping to bring it up in the future.

Arriving at their destination, Marisa landed on the ground first, and peered in the window. Kourindou was dark. Usually Rinnosuke was up until the late hours of the night.

“Huh. That’s weird.” Marisa mumbled.

“What’s up?” Reimu landed next to her, curiously peering in. 

“Normally he’s up ‘round this time. This is when he usually makes soup, and has a drink… He’s been busy lately, though, so maybe… Maybe he’s just sleeping.”

“Odd…”

Reimu made her way to the door, opening it with ease. Sauntering inside, it was eerily dark and quiet. Sure, Rinnosuke was a silent sleeper, but not even breathing could be heard. The kerosene-fueled heater which lay inside the house for cold nights wasn’t active like it normally would. Everything looked completely unchanged since their last visit, oddly enough. Marisa ran in after Reimu, and passed her to run down to the back of the shop, where Rinnosuke typically slept.

Just like the house, the bed, too, was absent of the half-human half-youkai that Marisa called her adoptive father.

“Light hair…” Reimu whispered, approaching behind Marisa, who was beginning to tremble. She, too, had come to a similar conclusion. “Blue clothing… Good with physical items…”

“I’m…”

“Marisa.”

“Yes…?” Her head turned shakily.

“I think we found our culprit, wouldn’t you say?”

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos, Bookmarks, and especially Comments are loved and appreciated, and helps to bring out a new chapter sooner.


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